The Zhur-Taa Negotiations

Standard Budget GU (Simic) Ramp RG (Gruul) RUG (Temur)

2npii

Creature (30)

• 1x Borborygmos Enraged
• 3x Elvish Mystic
• 2x Mistcutter Hydra
• 3x Prime Speaker Zegana
• 4x Prophet of Kruphix
• 4x Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
• 4x Savageborn Hydra
• 4x Sylvan Caryatid
• 1x Worldspine Wurm
• 4x Zhur-Taa Ancient

Land (24)

• 11x Forest
• 3x Gruul Guildgate
• 2x Island
• 5x Mountain
• 3x Simic Guildgate

Instant (5)

• 1x Biomass Mutation
• 2x Cyclonic Rift
• 2x Gruul Charm

Sorcery (1)

• 1x Clan Defiance

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Sideboard

Creature (2)

• 2x Mistcutter Hydra

Enchantment (3)

• 3x Alpha Authority

Instant (8)

• 4x Savage Summoning
• 4x Simic Charm

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• "At first Zegana found it irritating that the Boros launched an assault on Zhur-Taa during her negotiations with Borborygmos, but she soon found herself privileged to see the fabled mountains defend themselves."

I've been trying to find a way of using Zhur-Taa Ancient effectively, and cheaply, in standard for some time, and at last I think I've found a way to do so in Ruric Thar, the Unbowed; you give your opponent huge reserves of mana, but they can only use it to cast creatures unless they want to take some pretty substantial damage. Then you can go ahead and cast enormous hydras or a huge Clan Defiance (yes it hurts you, but for 20 mana it hurts your opponent more!).

I've splashed blue to include Prophet of Kruphix because she works so perfectly in this deck. She allows you to double your mana again, and lets you cast your ancient during your opponent's end step so that you get first dibs on the double mana. Ideally you'd then go ahead and cast Ruric, and maybe Prime Speaker Zegana to boot, drawing a fresh hand in the process. She also works wonderfully with Savageborn Hydra , allowing you to summon him for all you've got, and use his mana ability on essentially the same turn!

I really like this concept and a hope you guys to too. Any suggestions, particularly with regards to a sideboard, and +1s would be greatly appreciated!

Date added	10 years
Last updated	10 years
Legality	This deck is not Standard legal.
Rarity (main - side)	2 - 0 Mythic Rares 29 - 6 Rares 2 - 7 Uncommons 9 - 0 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	3.72
Tokens	Wurm 5/5 G w/ Trample